In the analysis, it was difficult to determine whether some of the concerns – such as the risk of excessive existential confrontation – were based on a protective or paternalistic stance, rather than being attributed to linguistic or cultural translation issues. Among professionals and staff, there was a general fear of confronting the patients excessively. This suggests that people Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical hold misperception that DT focuses prominently on issues pertaining to death and dying. In order to introduce DT across various settings, the protocol will need to be explained well, and

the staff educated that in the hands of a sensitive clinician, death awareness need not be confronted by way of dignity therapy. Clearly, professional education and positive experiences with DT, illustrating its applicability and success with this particular patient population, is required. Without appropriate understanding and buy in on the part of healthcare providers, Dignity Therapy–like Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical any novel therapeutic approach–will not be given its fair chance to mitigate suffering for patients facing life threatening Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and life limiting conditions. Although very few patients conveyed feeling overly confronted, these issues still need to be broached in future research. The first author had a dual role as both a researcher and therapist. To mitigate

any risk of bias, another researcher (SRH) took part in the qualitative analysis. All authors were involved in formulating the final conclusions and took Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical part in the final write-up. To further minimize bias, the opinions of dignity therapists regarding the DTQP were not included in the professional data. Therapist-to-therapist variation can influence a feasibility study such as this. Four psychologists participated as dignity therapists in this study. Recognizing the important Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical role of the therapists highlights the need to evaluate inter-therapist variation, whether launched

in a new country, or when new therapists from different professional backgrounds and institutions within the same until country are involved. The experiences of testing DT with cancer patients in active treatment were limited, making it difficult to draw final conclusions about the feasibility of DT in non-palliative settings. Attention to the recruitment difficulties we encountered and future tailoring of DT to this particular population is Entinostat molecular weight warranted. Conclusions This feasibility study, which is based on findings from interviews with professionals, from interview data of patients engaged in DT, and general experiences with implementing DT in different clinical settings, overall demonstrated that Danes admitted to palliative care found DT acceptable, relevant and manageable.